Here is the first picture of GA-X79A-UD3, the first Gigabyte-branded socket LGA2011 motherboard. Based on the Intel X79 Express chipset, the board supports upcoming Sandy Bridge-E enthusiast processors in the LGA2011 package. Mind you, this is just the cheapest LGA2011 board from Gigabyte, there is a higher-end line of X79 motherboards, so don't let the unspectacular looks of the UD3 get you.

The GA-X79A-UD3 is a standard ATX sized motherboard. Its main VRM is spread all around the large CPU socket, in what appears to be a 6-phase design, with an unknown number of memory and uncore phases. LGA2011 processors feature a large quad-channel DDR3 memory controller, along with a northbridge uncore component with a 40-lane PCI-Express 3.0 controller. Those amount to the socket's insane pin-count of 2,011 pins. Memory slots are located in pairs of two on either sides of the socket. Each slot is its own 64-bit wide memory channel.

Expansion slots include five PCI-Express 3.0 x16, from which we suspect four are wired to the processor, and one to the X79 PCH. There's a legacy PCI slot, too. The X79 PCH is loaded with a 10-port SATA 6 Gb/s RAID controller, all 10 ports are internal, an additional 2-port SATA 3 Gb/s controller is also integrated into the PCH, with its ports being assigned as internal.

Since this is the UD3 (entry level) model, its connectivity is rather skimpy, with 8+2 channel HD audio, a number of USB 3.0 ports, USB 2.0, and a single gigabit Ethernet.

I am completely baffled by the amount of 'blind love' given to this board in this thread.

Why is everyone cheering that the board has 14 SATA ports? How many of those ports will you actually be utilizing most of the time?

I am an enthusiast that has a ton of hard drive space but I never utilize more than 6 SATA ports...EVER.

If this is the entry-level board, who is it aimed for? The gamer that needs 28 TB of space? (This is assuming a 2TB hard disk per SATA port)

Is everyone happy because the 14 ports demonstrate high bandwidth availability? I don't really get it...

Click to expand...

I "consume" a 2 TB hard drive every 2-odd months. Gamers like to download and store stuff, too.

Besides, it's not only about capacity. It's also about RAID. Imagine if you could stripe ten 60 GB SATA 6 Gb/s SSDs (amounting to ~$1100) in RAID 0. With 8 GB/s chipset bandwidth at its disposal, you could very well be achieving godly speeds restricted to tens of thousands of dollars worth SSD cards.